Thursday, August 7, 2008

Biochemists at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston have been looking at pre-eclampsia, and they think that it's an auto-immune disease.

Pre-eclampsia affects pregnant women, and is a serious issue that contributes to 15 percent of premature babies and has been associated with infant and mother morbidity and mortality. The problem is that right now, the only existing treatment is delivery. Figuring out its causes may assist in developing new treatments.

I can't really make sense of the study, though. Something about inducing pre-eclampsia symptoms in mice, and then blocking those symptoms by giving the mice something else. With a title that starts with the phrase "Angiotensin receptor agonistic autoantibodies," the study is not exactly light reading.

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About Me

I'm Stanley! Part-time pundit and opinionated pedestrian, I use this blog to shine a spotlight on unsung breakthroughs. What's an unsung breakthrough? Well, if you read about it on MSNBC or see it on television, then it probably won't end up here.